The Red Carpet Event And The Diamonds: Oscar Award 2014

Both are inseparable. For celebrities the Oscar Award event is probably the most important and thrilling one, while for the viewers apart from discovering who the oscar holder is it's a chance to see the dazzling shine of exquisite attire and jewelry. Diamond jewelry is just the one to underline the moment. It's no surprise everybody's eyes were fixed on what the stars wore and ours, too.

The 25th Annual Yacht & Brokerage Show

As far as this blog is dedicated to diamonds and anything connected with them, we just couldn't omit a one-of-a-kind “Diamonds Are Forever” Yacht, the one you can see now in Miami at the 25the annual Yacht & Brokerage Show.

There is no evidence about diamonds encrusted somewhere on the yacht deck or cabins yet the name of it speaks for its luxury and sky-high price - $60 million! Among more than five hundred yachts and boats taking part in the show this one outshines the rest of the participants. What is so special about it then? The boat has a lift, six luxurious bedrooms, jacuzzi swimming pool and other deluxe frills. There is a crew consisting of fourteen people hanging around waiting for passengers. “Diamonds are Forever” is ready for long term cruising of various destinations.

Now Miami beach turned into the mecca for lovers of yachts and numerous onlookers. This is a free event, so if you are not far aways from there, you can visit that event and leave your comment about it.

Yellow Gold vs White Gold Setting

As you can notice there is lots of information on this blog about diamonds, gadgets incrusted with diamonds, man made diamonds, etc. but not a word was mentioned about the setting. It's time to change the situation.

Normally the setting ranges from white gold to yellow gold and it's always a dilemma what color of setting to choose. If you are to face this choice or already stumbled over it then this information can save your time and nerves and can help you to make a right choice, simply go on reading.

First, decide on what diamond color you want to see in your jewelry. The way how the whole item will look depends on the shade of the diamond: you can intensify fancy yellow diamond by yellow gold but at the same time can suppress the brightness of white diamond and give additional orangish shade to red diamond.

Second, what effect you expect to get: to preferably mark out a gem or to draw attention to the jewelry. Better take white gold for the first and yellow for the second, because yellow is of a brighter and warmer color while platinum is silvery and less catchy, however the effect can also depend on your skin tone (see below).

Third, mind your skin tone. It's always better to compare yellow and white diamond jewelry as it may happen that you like one color while the other is more complementary for you. If you don't know what your skin tone is, cool or warm, have a look on your wrist where veins are visible. People with cool skin tone have bluish colored veins and platinum is more preferable for them. Correspondingly, people with greenish colored veins are offered to wear yellow gold diamond jewelry.

Forth, consider your budget. Keep in mind that it's always recommended to buy the jewelry within your budget. In this case you should know that white gold is a tad more expensive than yellow gold, however it doesn't mean it's more wearproof. Both of them will never wear thin over time even though they are vulnerable to scratching, but white gold is considered to be a bit more durable as far at it's reinforced by a variety of alloys it has in its structure.

Choose wisely!

Butterfly Meadow

“I have wings but I'm not a bird. I'm small and colorful” the kid riddle says, and we would add “

When made of precious gems I'm very enticing for collectors regardless my high price tag”. Yes, this is a butterfly but as you can guess not a usual one and not even a single one!

There is an exhibition of a large collection of butterfly brooches on display in the Gem and Mineral Hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Precious 'species' will remain there till April 2013 so it makes easy to plan your visit in the museum once you are in LA. What you will see there is 16 butterflies made from 18K gold and covered with colored gemstones ranging from opal to diamonds.

Unique brooches were created by Buzz and Bernadine. Don't be surprised if these names are unknown to you, because a talented gem cutter and a skillful jewelry designer decided not to uncover their full names. Instead they tried to draw maximum attention to their cherished creations rather than personalities.

Each butterfly 'wears' unique gems sparingly collected by the owners through more than thirty years and is named after the gems it is covered with. There is the Opal Butterfly featuring the opals from Virgin Valley, Nevada; there is the Benitoite Butterfly beautified with 34.67 carats of amazing blue gemstones which are known as the California state gem. However, as far as we are more interested in diamonds than in any other gems that is why the exhibit that caught our attention is the Hiddenite Butterfly. The body is made of green oval-shaped hiddenite that is known as the largest ever faceted and covered with lots of colorless diamonds. With red beryl eyes and tourmaline elements this brooch would be a perfect accessory for any lady of fashion for any occasion. But it won't as far as Buzz & Bernadine made it rather for contemplating than for wearing. So let's simply enjoy this beauty.

Diamond Planet: A Myth Or Reality?

We seem to mention anything made of diamonds: diamond jewelry, diamond gadgets, diamond standard lamp, diamond shoes, diamond wedding dress and whatnot. But there is one more thing recently discovered that is diamond: this is a diamond planet!

Australian astronomers at Parkes Observatory have recently discovered a new planed orbiting a dead star that by its structure resembles the most solid mineral in the world that is diamond. This is not a hasty statement, as according to scientists this planet is 18 times solid than water, meaning that this is not a gas planet made of helium or hydrogen normally the stars are made of, but it should consist of oxygen and carbon. We know that diamond is carbon by nature so it let the scientists presuppose that this planet is crystalline like a real diamond.

As for the planet measures, it is estimated to be 5 times large than the Earth having 34,175 miles across. But you understand that it's not the size of the planet that made a fuss about but its composition, that is really unexpected and never found before. Probably the former will determine the name for this celestial body - “Lucy”, which in Latin means “light”.

Well, it is nice to know that diamonds exist even as far as in the Universe, but it's also nice to be aware that they can be as close to you as worn on your finger.

Inspired by Kalashnikov

What would you do if you had about $60,000 in your pocket? We are not sure as for other people but true fashionista would spend this sum of money for a piece of fashion art like Akilis belt.

A year before Gucci impressed fashion mongers by its brilliant leather belt featuring a double G buckle encrusted with diamonds. Retailing at $250,000 it got the status of most expensive belt in the world. Probably to compete with the leader this year Akillis, a luxury jewelry designer, presented its version of a fashionable leather band. Priced at “only” $55,700 it can hardly battle with Gucci's but it surely to impress everybody by its unique buckle: seven empty Kalashnikov riffle bullets embedded with diamonds. These were gangsters and spies who inspired the designer to create such a belt. According to chief executive of Akillis Caroline Gaspard, he believes that for those who like ultra-luxury the price won't be a bump at all. Indeed, three expensive pieces of art have already found their happy owners.

Would you like to wear a 55,700-dollar belt on your waist?

Rough White 196-carat Diamond Mined in Sough Africa This Month

September was a successful month for miners at Letseng mine in Lesotho, South Africa. They were lucky to find a sparkling piece of diamond rock of 196 carats in size. The distinguishing feature of this very stone is its perfect clarity and top color.

Letseng diamond mine belongs to Gem Diamonds Ltd, a leading diamond producer with a head office in London and mines all over the world. This very mine has a reputation of the one where the diamonds of exceptional quality and size are found. Three out of twenty world largest diamonds were found there including the Lesotho Promise sized 603 carats that was mined in August 2006.

Speaking about the price it is always shocking when it refers to natural diamonds. For instance, the aforesaid Lesotho Promise was sold for $12,4 million. A great deal of! The next giant was not long in coming – the Letseng Legacy, 493-sized rough diamond, was mined three years ago and sold for $10,4 million. The following year the 478-carat Light of Letseng broke the record of two previous stones and went for $18,4 million. The experts believe that the 196-carat diamond will deserve a decent price too.

The price for natural diamonds can be described as shocking, striking, unbelievable, incredible, whatever but it seems“high” is not enough to define it. One more example to prove it: the 507.5 Cullinan mined last year was sold in February 2010 for record $35,3 million – the highest price ever paid for rough diamond stone. Do you think all of them are worth the price?

Princess Cut Diamonds – Royal Diamonds?

Such diamond shape like the Princess cut in many cases brings up an association with the gem shape so loved by princesses in ancient times. Actually, the Princess cut diamonds have nothing to do with real princesses as this shape of diamond was created in 1960 – not so long ago to gain the status of favorite gem of the royal person.

Though being rather new the Princess cut is the second popular cut after brilliant (round) but it's number one choice in engagement rings. The Princess cut diamond is of the square shape with the inverted pyramid on the underside. The corners of the Princess Cuts are not chamfered, they are sharp and you may feel them when the stone is loose, when it is set the corners are covered by the setting. As it was mentioned already, solitaire engagement rings with the Princess cut gems are rather popular these days, however the Princess cut diamonds are also set in pendants, studs and stud earrings. Very often if there are several diamonds in the jewelry the diamond of this shape is the central one.

The main reason why the Princess cut is so loved by women is that is displays high degree of brilliance. The Princess Cuts got their sparkle thanks to extra faceting: a“cross cut” crown and a number of unique facets in the pavilion. If you view the stone directly from the table, you can see unbelievable cross-shape reflection so characteristic for this type of cut. The Princess cut diamond usually has 58 facets (21 crown, 4 girdle and 33 pavilion) or 50 facets (only 25 pavilion). To achieve higher degree of brilliance a gemcutter tries to enlarge depth of the stone, as a result stone mass increases respectively. But you needn't think the Princess cuts are the largest cut diamonds, in fact they are the smallest of all shapes as the most of the weight is in the bottom of the pyramid.


The pleasant thing about the Princess Cuts is that they are cheaper than round diamonds. The thing is that a round diamond of the same diameter as the width of a princess cut diamond is smaller, it's like its corners have been cut. The round diamond retains about 40% of the rough diamond, while the Princess cut diamond retains about 80%! Most likely this shape was designed to get the diamond with extremely high brilliance but for lower price. It sounds as if the Princess cut is an 'affordable' shape.
The Princess cut is also a disputable cut. Only few gemological laboratories such as Accredited Gem Appraisers (AGA), European Gem Laboratories-USA (EGL-USA), and American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL) grade this cut for cut. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in its turn considers there are no strict fixed parameters for ideal Princess cut so it can't be graded for cut. But nothing can darken great luster of the Princess cuts and they really deserve to be worn by royalty.

When a Copy is More Expensive Than an Original

Actually, this is not a copy but a mini model of real Bugatti Veyron.

A lucky owner of terrific 16 cylinder 1000 horses Bugatti that is able to whisk you anywhere at a speed of about 250 mph now has a chance to admire or even to have an absolute 1:18 scale copy of Veyron made of 24-karat gold and encrusted with 7.2 carats of white diamonds. Diamonds are scattered on different parts of the car including the grille where a big stone shines like a headlight.

The idea to create such a super costly 'toy' came to Robert Gulpen of Munich & Stuart Hughes of Liverpool. While real Bugatti Veyron cost you about $2 million, you will have to pay about $3 million for this little still weighty thing.

The edition of car models is limited, so a real balla should not miss his chance to have such chic car in his collection. Though it's impossible to drive the car but it's just perfect to show off :)

Costly Like Diamond

Diamonds are not only talked about, they are even sung about by legendary Marilyn Monroe. The world-known phrase "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" belongs to this stunning blonde from the movie "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes". After this fantastic movie not only gentlemen started to prefer blondes but also women became fond of diamonds. The dress Marilyn were singing a song in were sold for a staggering $314,000 on 14 June, 2010 in Hollywood. The price was higher than expected and beat the barrier of $250,000.

It seems Marilyn was a part of a huge diamond advertising campaign which was rather successful in those days as well as in our days. And it's clear why since diamond is a special stone so neatly created by nature where just a single chemical element carbon could transfer into flawless most solid and beautiful stone in the world. Though a greater part of diamonds is intended for industrial needs, that little part of cut and polished diamond gems could capture women's hearts forever.

Still something has changed since the time of Marilyn Monroe singing that really helped to make diamonds to be "a girl's best friend". Diamonds are affordable now! This became possible due to contemporary technologies like high temperature high pressure (HTHP) and carbon vapor deposition (CVD) technologies. Competent scientists could immitate the conditions needed to form diamond (in case of HTHP) and found the very point when carbon crystallized into real diamond stone (with the help of CVD technology). So, man can grow real diamonds now, absolutely the same as those mined from under the ground. As the process of growing is less consuming than mining the price for created diamonds is lower, thus more women can be happy wearing diamond jewelry.

Wish you not just hear about diamonds but wear them

Do You Know That...

- diamond was taken like standard element by Frederich Mohs, a German mineralogist, who created the scale of mineral hardness. Diamond rates 10 - the highest rate - on the Mohs scale and it is more than 50 times harder than corundum, which is the next most solid natural element, however diamonds lose in hardness to laboratory grown nanomaterials. Synthetic stones are going to be 58% harder than diamonds;

- diamonds can be of various colors: green, blue, yellow and brown (they are most numerous), black, red and pink (the most rarely found in nature). Though some imagine diamond as a transparent colorless gem, the number of pure white diamonds is low;

- diamond can burn, but you need to heat it to about 1300 Fahrenheit. Still, it is considered to be almost fireproof;

- not more than 20% of all mined diamonds are qualified as gemstones and are used in jewelry, the rest stones are intended for industrial needs, especially they are used to produce polishing, cutting, grinding and drilling tools;

- the biggest uncut diamond ever mined was colorless Cullinan. It weighted 0,62 kg or 3,106.75 carats. It was cut in 106 pieces where the largest cut diamond is the Great Star of Africa - 530.2 carats. This diamond is considered to be flawless, though typically each diamond has flaws;

- the world smallest cut diamond was cut by Bhavani Mikro. The gem weights only 0.00006 grams what is 0.0003 carats. Diamond gemstone has 57 shining tiny facets;

- first diamond stones were found more than 4,500 years ago, according to Peter Lu. Harvard physicist proved that ancient Chinese benefit from unique physical properties of diamond. They used it for polishing corundum axes, which could be polished neither more nor less than by diamond;

- according to various legends a person who wears diamond jewelry is protected from evil. Moreover, a wearer is considered to be a lucky man and the one possessing enough courage. All his traits were explained by wearing diamonds;

- real diamonds can be grown in the laboratory. New Age Diamonds and Gemesis place a small piece of natural diamond and a bit of carbon into the growth machine where high temperature and high pressure are applied to grow a larger stone (up to 5 carats) from these materials. Real diamond comes up in several days and possesses all the properties of naturally-occurring diamond.

The More Letters 'A' the Better?

What would you think about Cubic Zirconia of AAAAAA quality?

Cubic zirconia is a known diamond simulant widely used in jewelry. Usually, jewelry retailers tell their customers what the stones set in jewelry are made of. Though some of them try to veil this fact claiming the coated cubic zirconia is nearly the same as natural diamond. Indeed, CZ's facets sparkle in the sun like diamond's so that inexperienced person can mix it up with natural diamond, novice but not a professional or a person who has once seen natural diamond. Thus, what's the difference between CZ and real diamond?

First of all, cubic zirconia is of absolutely different chemical composition. While diamond consists of pure carbon CZ consists of zirconium oxide plus calcium or yttrium.

Different chemistry influences CZ's physical properties greatly. Cubic Zirconia is not so hard as diamond. Though it is rather wearable in jewelry, you should be careful not to break it. Its hardness rates from 8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale vs. diamond's 10.

In addition, cubic zirconia is heavier than diamond, for example 1k diamond equals 6.5mm in size while 1.13k CZ is only 5.5mm in size - less than you might expect. So, when purchasing CZ you should keep in mind this fact and you'd better consult CZ weight conversion cart.

As for durability, CZ is considered to be rather durable stone, though its main disadvantage is that it fades in time and becomes cloudy. In this case it seems useless to have durable but faded gem.

What CZ is praised for is its luster. In a good light it sparkles brightly and it resembles diamond gem for non-professionals, however it's not hard to differentiate diamond from cubic zirconia when both of the stones are brought together.
With this in mind, do you think the abundance of letters 'A' will greatly influence the quality of cubic zirconia?

However, if you want to save money and still want your jewelry to have diamond fire there is a better option than CZ even of AAAAAA quality. Cultured diamonds. What are they?

Cultured or lab grown diamonds are those created by man. They have the same chemical properties as natural diamonds have - created diamonds are made of pure carbon. A tiny piece of natural diamond is put into a chamber where there is super high temperature and pressure, like those in Earth's mantle where natural diamonds have been formed for hundreds of years. Then this tiny stone is grown individually up to the size of 2, 3 or maximum 5 carats. What is more, created diamonds are of the same crystal structure as natural diamonds, where atoms of carbon are highly symmetrically arranged so that it's impossible to tell the difference between cultured and naturally-occurring diamonds.

Chemistry of man made diamond determines its physical and optical properties. Man made diamonds are tough and unscratched, wearproof and fadeless, durable and of course possess that incomparable fire and luster typical for real diamonds. In addition, cultured diamonds are as solid as real diamonds (they rate 10 on the Mohs scale). The differences are their age and price.

It takes only several days to grow cultured diamonds: three or five days depending on the size of the stone, while natural diamonds take centuries to be formed. As the process of creating diamonds is not so consumptive and does not imply huge resources to mine the stones consequently the price for created diamonds (even fancy colored diamonds) is lower. So, created diamonds are real diamonds with all the properties you expect from diamond however they are much affordable.

In fact, the only stone that can substitute diamond is diamond for it is a unique gem and not any other stone even of superb quality can replace it.

Diamonds: What's So Special About Them?

What is common between coal, graphite, soot, petroleum, human remains and diamonds? All of them consist of the same element - carbon, so easy to be found everywhere on the earth. Well, if carbon is not rare element, then why are diamonds so expensive and what makes them so special?

Ancient Greeks called diamond "adamas" which means unbreakable, even at that times they knew diamond is the most solid material ever occurring in the world. Diamond is very hard stone due to its unique atomic structure, that is why a greater part of all diamonds (more than 80%) is used for industrial needs. Diamonds are used in the manufacture of drills, saws, cutting tools, etc. This unique property of diamond makes it rather valuable gemstone on jewelry market. It considers to be the ideal gem for everyday wear that is why a diamond engagement ring is the perfect one as it contains the most beautiful and at the same time solid and unscratched gem in the world.

Another property of diamond like high thermal conductivity is applied in semiconductor manufacturing used to prevent semiconductors from overwarming. It makes diamond to be prospective material for wafer manufacturing. However, due to its high price and difficulty in treatment diamonds are not widely used in this field. Jewelers also use this property of diamond, they've found use of it in 'thermal testing'. Extremely high thermal conductivity helps to differentiate diamonds from fake stones, however in 1998 another material called moissanite with the similar characteristic has been synthesized, so don't mix it up with real diamonds.

If you have diamond jewelry you should not be afraid of its breakage: diamond is tough enough to resist breakage from either falling or impact. This property just proves the verity of a known slogan "Diamonds are forever" and again makes this stone exceptional and pricey.

In addition, diamond fans love diamonds for their unbelievable luster. Professional gem cutter is seems to be a real magician who is the only one to reveal unique diamond fire. Colorless from the first sight, gem could play all the colors of a rainbow. This optical property possesses the most appealing power to attract the attention of fair sex as well as the collectors. If you think diamonds could be boring and there is nothing special in colorless gems, you are wrong. Fancy colored diamonds won't let you remain indifferent. Blue, yellow, orange, green, cognac, red and pink diamonds - all of them are awesome. Though they possess unrivaled properties that could be successfully used for industrial needs, a greater part of fancy colored diamonds are set in jewelry rather than in cutting tools. By the way, diamonds are fadeless what means your children and the children of your children could still admire the beauty of the same diamond. It is the ideal choice for jewelry to be handed down from generation to generation as it never loses its beauty.

As you see, diamond is really unique material possessing a wide range of distinctive properties like wearproofness, toughness, solidity, longevity, thermal conductivity, fadelessness, amazing fire and color. All these traits distinguish diamond from any other material and determine its high price.

Why Do People Buy Diamonds?

Women are wonderful creatures: they don't care about any economic crises or they don't bother about financial difficulties, they just want to be attractive in spite of everything. It seems, girls can't keep themselves from buying various lady's pretties and, strange as it may seem, diamonds are among the latter. These magnetic gemstones are always in fashion and not a single glamour puss would regret giving preference to exactly diamond jewelry.

However, girls are not the only customers in diamond jewelry shops. Men are among those who are ready to spend a whole fortune at auctions in order to get the desired gemstone. And the bid price often exceeds normal standards - millions of dollars are spent for diamonds. So, both men and women can't resist the temptation to own the unique stones, but why? Why do people buy diamonds?

Probably one of the most common 'why-do-people-buy-diamonds reason' is that people want to raise their social status. All the world knows that diamonds are very expensive and only wealthy people can afford to have diamond jewelry. So, if you are wearing diamonds automatically others start thinking you are a man of property and treating you accordingly. Diamonds appear to be a nice chance for an ordinarily person to become special, better and reputable.

Those who are already rich and reputable are also diamond's fans, but diamonds are the necessity for them. Celebrities and businessmen, politicians and VIP persons always wear diamonds. In this case diamonds are necessary to keep the status of a rich person - quite opposite to the first reason it seems. Could you imagine Angelina Jolie wearing costume jewelry? Or Don King wearing glass instead of all his sparkling diamonds? It would be weird, don't you think? Diamonds have the reputation of 'gems of rich people' for their high price.

Also some people view diamonds as investment and buy them to save and multiply their funds. This gemstone has been treasured since the ancient times. The popularity of diamonds keeps growing year by year, and the price raises correspondingly. For those who have much money and want to multiply them, diamonds can be great investment that will bring double or even larger profit after some period of time. Though diamonds are rarely used as a store of value during period of crisis, however they appear to be just perfect investment during period of very high inflation.

One more reason why people buy diamonds is that they want to be the sole owners of exclusive things. A bit of explanation: there is a limited number of rare world-known diamonds and it is a great honor to be the owner of the diamond which is unique and does not have the analogue. Just imagine you have the Hope diamond in your collection, it automatically makes you famous and exceptional. In addition, there is a limited number of unusual exclusive things encrusted with diamonds like dresses, helmets, cell phones or even TV sets. All of them are objects of envy and admiration, the same as their owners.

Surely, there could be other reasons to motivate people to buy diamonds but the one thing is vivid: diamonds never fade, they are forever. This is the only gemstone that could enslave the hearts of ancient and modern people, of kings and poor men, males and females.

If you have any other ideas about why people buy diamonds, feel free to leave your comment.

Glamourous Television Set

For those who love diamonds and have enough diamond jewelry and now want to have one more thing encrusted with diamonds - here it is, a new most expensive and glamourous television in the world!

Now the uber-rich could buy 55-inch PrestigeHD Supreme for £1,5 million. This exclusive television was designed by Stuart Hughes, a known British designer, who created only three expensive items (hie yourself to the sale). Television frame is made of solid 18-carat rose gold, total amount of which equals 28 kilograms. 72 one-carat diamond gems of round shape alongside with hundreds of amethysts and sunstones adorn the outer frame, while the inner is finished in alligator skin.

Unique television was created in association with German company Metz and Switzerland PrestigeHD. There is a pleasant news for those who have a limited budget: Mr Hughes is planning to create a "budget" version of the PrestigeHD Supreme. It will be gold-plated instead of being made of solid gold and of course will have less diamonds.

Mr Hughes believes there are rich customers who would like to have a unique thing regardless to its price. The PrestigeHD Supreme is not the only pricey gadget offered by British designer: gold-plated bike and iPhones are most known from the rest, and they found their customers, by the way. By creating unusual television set Hughes claimed he would like to "push the boundaries" impressing everybody by his unusual view of thing and design. Currently, the PrestigeHD Supreme is considered to be the most expensive television ever made.

Would you like to have one?

Diamonds and... Men!

There is a buzz phrase which is known to nearly each person: "Diamonds are girls' best friends", but why only girls'? Men wear diamond too! Diamonds are worn by both men of business who appreciate severity and style, and by dandies who go to any length to entice tender daughters of Eve. Diamonds accentuate preciosity of style. They could be compared to the fragrance of very expensive perfume: subtle and discreet, but at the same time perceptible. What makes diamonds so observable is their unique fire, which is common to all gemstones regardless their size. Thus, women are not the only diamond-fanciers, men are also.

So, the most popular diamond-encrusted thing men used to wear is a watch. Men can find a huge variety of them: with diamond crystals instead of figures, with a whole row of little gemstones set full-circle, with diamond gems scattered all over a dial, with diamonds wristband, etc. Each man could choose a watch to match his individual style and taste, and price of course.

Diamond rings are usually associated with girls' engagement rings, it's true. However, men like to have a signet ring on their fingers either. And here men-customers could really lose their bearings among gillion of men's diamond ring designs. Men usually wear rings (if they are not wedding) on their right hand, on the middle finger or just opposite the wedding ring. Some prefer to wear it on a pointer or on a pinky. Anyway, there are a lot of sizes to fit each finger it seems. If not, there is an opportunity to order an individual ring of unique design and particular size for you.

You could also meet a man wearing a dog tag or a pendant. Yes, men like something to hang around their neck, especially to peek out of a shirt. Though you might think there is nothing special about dog tags as they are of the same shape, but they differ in style. Diamond dog tag even feature fancy colored diamonds, such as black, blue and green diamonds. As for pendants, they could be various: traditional crosses, stars of David, initial letters, skulls, zodiac pendants, anchors, even boxing gloves, tires and Mickey Mouse, whatnot!

Cufflinks used to be traditional men jewelry. There are diamond cufflinks made of either yellow of white gold. A man of business should have a pair of them to make an impression on his colleagues. A perfectly ironed shirt with a pair of diamond cufflinks not only looks perfect, but raises your social status.

Men's diamond bracelets the same as women's are great. They are worn to impress. Men's diamond bracelets could be encrusted with fancy colored diamonds alongside white gemstones. Bracelets are usually worn on a right hand, so that when you are greeting someone your opponent could see your bracelet.

For most elegant dandies there is a collection of diamond earrings. Square, round or triangular they feature usually white and black diamond gems, though yellow, blue and green diamonds could be set in either.

Well, it seems in some cases diamond jewelry is not a folly but a necessity. However, sometimes you need to spend a whole fortune to satisfy your whim. Do you think it's possible to have the first without the second?

Most known "diamond" dresses in the world

While the men try to impress everybody by their chick and luxurious cars, the women used to dazzle everybody by their unbelievable priceless dresses. Actually, the dresses have prices but the latter are very high. Peau de soie fabric, unique century-old lace, golden thread and taffeta still can't increase the price to millions of dollars even if all of them are used in abundance. Diamonds determine the price! Women love diamonds and some love them in plenty. Here is a list of most known and most expensive "diamond" dresses in the world:

1. “Nightingale of Kuala Lumpu” strikes by its high price first of all- $30 million price. It is the most expensive dress in the world and its diamond bikini is considered to be the most expensive item of clothing. This red dazzling evening gown is made of silk and taffeta and embroidered in 750 diamonds. There is a huge 70 carat pear-shaped diamond in the center of the bodice. Even the dress train is encrusted with natural gemstones. All diamonds come from Middle Eastern jeweler Mouawad, an author of Heidi Klum's jewelry line. This masterpiece was created by Malaysian designer Faisol Abdullah in 2009. The dress was displayed at STYLO Fashion festival in Malaysia. When asked about the price, Faisol Abdullah said he believed that there are rich people who would like to have such unique pricey gown and the price tag would not be an obstacle.

2. $20 million dress created by a jewelry icon Chris Aire had been a titleholder of most expensive dress in the world for a long time till Faisol Abdullah designed a more pricey gown. On September 2005 a fashion model May Anderson was honored to debut Chris Aire's dress at his runway show. The dress is made of red gold and diamond only - no fabric and lace. A breathtaking gown is encrusted with unbelievable number of diamonds - 5,500 gems! Total weight of diamond stones equals 3,496 carats. The gown weights 15.5 pounds - not typical for usual dress, however most of women would love to wear even such a heavy dress to impress the others.

3. The Diamond Wedding Gown takes third place. If you want to strike your guests by an awesome wedding dress, you have to pay $12 million for it. It is a work of Renee Strauss, who is a know owner of the bridal salon in Los Angeles. Strauss collaborated with Martin Katz, a jewelry designer, who embroidered the dress in 150 carats of diamonds. This dress debuted at Luxury Brands Lifestyle Bridal show in 2006. Later Yumi Katsura took a shot to beat the record having designed her wedding dress, which was priced at $8.5 million though. A wedding is an expensive occasion but could you imagine to be the most "valuable" bride?

4. Yumi Katsura wedding dress is next. A Japanese bridal designer used 1000 pearls to decorate tight-fitting long ankle dress. The legendary dress is made of satin and silk and features zari embroidery. Unique, one of two, 5 carat white gold diamond and 8.8 carat green diamond gem emblaze the gown and make it special.

5. Most extravagant and original dress ever encrusted with diamonds is the one worn by Samantha Mumba. An Irish actress and singer appeared in her new amazing dress at the premier of Spider-Man 2 on July 28, 2004. To be attuned with the film Samantha worn a dress made in a shape of spider's web. However, this is the most expensive web ever known as it contains 3000 diamonds - it's like a moving jewelry shop! This unusual dress was created by a British fashion designer Scott Henshall. To impress the public an actress paid a real fortune for this diamond gown - $8 million, though some sources claim it is valued $13 million.

Her tears like diamonds on the floor

And her diamonds bring me down... (Rob Thomas)

About a year ago a song of Rob Thomas "Her Diamonds" was a great hit. After listening to it the first question anyone asked was "What is the story of this song?". Actually, there are a lot of stories and assumptions. Some say Rob Thomas was inspired by Toni Morrison's novel "Beloved", where the diamonds were the most painful things in a main character's life, the things that made her cry. Each time a girl cried an author compared her tears with diamonds, which were of symbolic meaning ("her tears were like diamonds").

According to another story, the song tells about Rob Thomas' wife Mari who is suffering terminal disease and here in his song Thomas showed how strong he loves her and empathizes her. He feels the same pain as she does, but she is dying and nothing can't prevent the death.

But the most trustworthy story is of Rob Thomas by himself, let's think. He says, this song is about a girl and she is very ill. The song is about empathy and somewhat dealing with love. Anyway, the song is sad and full of pain and struggle, and love, and feelings, and tears like diamonds...

Don't you know, why Rob Thomas used diamonds for analogy? These rare gemstones are so beautiful, rare and shining that they seem to bring joy only, but here in this song they seem to bring pain. Is there a kind of underlying message? What if he used this analogy on purpose. What if diamonds the same as tears are so rare but manage to cause terrific "pain" to nature and humans.

Hope, one day Rob Thomas will write another song about diamonds but not so sad. Let's tell him about cultured diamonds to inspire him ("wink wink").

Enjoy the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJHa6Vh1bE8&feature=related

Will you marry me?

Have you ever thought where the traditions come from? People are used to follow various traditions like celebrating St. Valentine's Day with giving heart-shaped presents, or put a candle inside a hollow pumpkin on Hallowing, or keep family most favourite recipes in a Recipe Box. The list of traditions is endless, though today let's cover only one of them: what are the roots of giving diamond wedding ring tradition?

After some investigations three basic reasons can be distinguished:

1. Diamond is considered to be the most solid stone in the world, so it serves a kind of symbol of everlasting, solid relationships of the couple, where a bridegroom gave a diamond wedding ring to his beloved fiancé.
2. It is dated 1477, when Archduke of Austria (later King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor) Maximilian I gave his fiancé Mary of Burgundy a wedding ring, which was diamond. Since that time it became a kind of tradition for giving diamond rings.
3. Economic marketing ploy made by De Beers, the largest world Company specialized in diamond mining, trading and manufacturing. During the 30s, when a whole world was in depression, De Beers managed to organize a huge advertisement campaign and create a real diamond boom, which has not ended yet.
Well, to follow the tradition whatever its roots are, a bridegroom has to pay a real fortune (about 3 month's salaries) to buy a tiny sparkle ring. Does not it sound awkward? Moreover, if a ring could tell a story how it was mined, and how much rock had been destroyed to find a gem, how hard people worked to find it, how it was transported (hope not smuggled), then grind - wow, a long story it could be, sometimes "bloody". Do you think a bride would like to get such a ring for the happiest moment of her life? If you really want to make your sweetheart happy without bringing any sacrifice, either financial or ecological, you may choose a ring with created diamond, which is of the same solidity, beauty, shimmer and longevity as natural one. But the main advantage of created diamonds is that they are grown in a laboratory and considered to be eco green diamonds, which are cheaper and conflict free. Let nothing darken your wedding!